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The morale of the German armed forces had now slumped to rock bottom. The threat of mutiny was ever present. So when the sailors of the Imperial German Navy saw their officers drunk and toasting to the 'Glorious Death Ride of the Fleet', rather than follow their leaders into suicide at the end of October, they revolted. A German officer attempted to restore order with a pistol, but was shot and killed by one of the sailors, and things spiralled into a general uprising. 40,000 sailors took over the port of Kiel in protest.

The dissent spread, and by November workers councils were clashing with the government all over the country as a general revolution broke out.